Фота: reform.news
A distinctive street art “intervention” by Belarusian artist Mihas Mishuk has appeared near Warsaw’s pedestrian bridge. A fairly large diver in a bright orange diving suit was installed in the Vistula River with only his shoulders and head above the water.
We asked the artist about his new intervention.
“I actually made this diver last year. I don’t even remember what it was for anymore, possibly for Varushnyak,” Mihas Mishuk told Reform.news. “It’s modular and can be assembled and disassembled. Last summer it stood on land, but this year I decided to place it in the water, which seems more logical…
I first assembled it at a lake and then decided to move it to the Vistula. I’m leaving Warsaw this autumn, so I’m gradually getting rid of bulky things.
“I didn’t install it alone — I was with some friends. They were filming everything for a movie, although that’s not certain because the movie may never be made. Still, we had a great time. We installed it in the evening after dark. No one would have seen anything, but the guys needed light for filming, so they illuminated my act of hooliganism with their equipment.
“A crowd gathered on the embankment. Fortunately, the police never showed up. But I finished everything quickly, and it all went without incident. I don’t know how long it will stay there. If the municipal services don’t remove it, maybe it will remain until the spring floods,” the artist said.
Mihas Mishuk’s divers have already become iconic objects in Warsaw, although he installs them in cities around the world. The artist first came up with the diver motif in Minsk in 2013. It is a symbolic self-portrait — a solitary person in a shell drifting through the city in a protective suit.
In May, Mihas Mishuk staged his own parallel program during the Venice Biennale by installing his signature diver images throughout the city.